Explain hurry to cancel lease: Ramdev aide

Baba Ramdev's aide Acharya Balkrishan on Thursday demanded that the Virbhadra Singh government give the reasons for cancelling the lease of land to Patanjali Yogpeeth at Sadhupul days before the yoga guru's arrival in Himachal Pradesh.

The Congress government recently cancelled the lease that was given to the Yogpeeth by former chief minister and BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal.

"The Himachal Pradesh government should tell us what was the hurry to cancel the lease just before Baba Ramdev's visit," Balkrishan told Hindustan Times over phone. "We have not taken anything through the back door. A leased deed was signed with the government in accordance with the laid down procedure," he said.

"Our trust has already spent about Rs 10 crore on the project. What was the need to cancel the lease now? Has the government cancelled the lease granted to others? It appears that it has only targeted Baba Ramdev," he said. "If the government says that it was land gifted by the Patiala royal family for developing a facility for children then the Congress, which was in power in 1967, should explain what they had developed on the land since then."

"The infrastructure created by us is only for the welfare of the people. We have built a hospital apart from a yoga hall. There is a proposal to create a herbal garden where the local residents will be trained in growing herbs," he added.

When asked if Baba Ramdev would inaugurate the facilities at the Sadhupul yogpeeth next week, he said, "Tell me who can stop us from entering our house. We have not done anything illegal."